


I'm With You, If You Want Me To

by Velocity_Owl87



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chuck Lives, Conversations, Developing Relationship, Enemies to Lovers, Introspection, M/M, Morning After, Relationship Discussions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-27
Updated: 2016-11-27
Packaged: 2018-09-02 13:00:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8668540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Velocity_Owl87/pseuds/Velocity_Owl87
Summary: Raleigh never thought that he'd wake up next to Chuck Hansen after a one night stand. He never thought they'd actually talk about the night and what would come next. Never in a million years, had he thought it would happen. Yet it did and he had to figure out what was going to happen now.Especially since he didn't want just one night. He wanted a lifetime.He just hoped that Chuck wanted the same.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I was feeling nostalgic for these guys, along with reading some pretty good commentary on Chuck and Raleigh's characters prompted this short one shot. It's also a bit of a musing on chemistry and attraction and how that can go either way.
> 
> Title is from The Stills "I'm With You."

It was not the morning that Raleigh had pictured himself having when he had woken up the day before. It was not the morning he had pictured himself ever having, period. Yet it had happened and he was going to have to figure out a game plan in the short span of time he had before his guest was awake and complicating matters even further. 

He got out of bed and stretched, letting his sweats hang low to expose the waistband of his briefs as he arched his back so that his fingertips nearly touched the ceiling. Or so he fancied that they could. He grinned to himself at that before straightening out his sweats and the thermal shirt he had somehow managed to pull on sometime during the night after…

He flushed and he felt his breath catch in his throat as he recalled a bit of that night. He turned the memories, as pleasant as they were, away and focused on the fairly vague gameplan he had sort of formulated. 

Raleigh glanced over to his bed, checking to make sure that he hadn’t roused his guest and breathed a small sigh of relief when he saw that they were still dead to the world. So he went over to the little partitioned off area and washed up. While he brushed his teeth, he reached into the cupboard and pulled out a new toothbrush before putting it down on the shelf below the spotted mirror. Once he was done, he stepped back into the room and stripped off his shirt as he walked over to the cupboard where he kept his clothes. He had just thrown the sleep wrinkled shirt into the hamper when a small noise made him look at the bed.

He nearly had the shock of his life when he saw dark green eyes intently watching him from the other side of the bed. He honestly thought he had been quiet, but from the wide awake look on Chuck’s face, it seemed like he hadn’t been as quiet as he had thought. He was also surprised that Chuck hadn’t said much of anything and was calmly watching, not annoyed in the least. 

Raleigh wondered if it was because he wasn’t quite awake as he appeared. Like Yancy used to be when he first woke up. The idea was dispelled when Chuck’s eyes narrowed and he sat up in bed, letting the sheet and blankets pool in his lap. He pulled the pillow from underneath him and arranged it so that it provided a small bit of cushioning against the bare metal wall of the room and looked at Raleigh.

Neither of them spoke, letting the silence stretch and ebb between them in a comfortable matter. Raleigh cleared his throat once it stretched out longer than he could tolerate. They had to address...Whatever this thing that they ended up having was.

Chuck must have had the same thought because he blinked and actually beat Raleigh to the punch.

“Hey look. It doesn’t have to get heavy, if you don’t-”

“Is that what you want, though? Some fling and then we go back to how we were before?”

Raleigh interrupted him, not really wanting to hear that excuse from Chuck of all people. Nor did he want to hear it because it made him wonder if it was an offer made so that if Raleigh rejected anything more, he’d be able to slink off with some pride and minimal damage. He’d also never see that side of Chuck again and that was the last thing that he wanted to happen.

The idea of Chuck thinking that Raleigh just wanted sex made him inwardly wince. He hoped that wasn’t the impression he had given him and if it had been, he was going to have his work cut out for him. That wasn’t what he wanted at all. He’d have enough of that with Naomi and had learned his lesson all too well in the painful years of loneliness after Yancy’s death. 

He had promised himself that wasn’t going to happen ever again. If he was going to let anyone get under his skin, they were going to stay, no matter what the hell life would throw at them. Last night wasn’t a one off or accidental coupling. Far from it, even though Raleigh suspected that Chuck thought that it was, due to his past experiences. 

Except that it wasn’t just a random coincidence.

They had been circling around each other for it to be just that. This was just the outcome of a natural progression. As much as either of them had wanted to deny it, they had been building up to this and Raleigh wasn’t going to let it slip through his fingers. Yet as much as he wanted for it to be permanent, it all depended on what Chuck wanted to do. Even if Raleigh wanted more than just a night of good sex, it was all up to Chuck. 

And he wasn’t going to let Chuck be misinformed before he made the final decision.

Chuck shifted in the bed, plucking at the covers before he finally answered Raleigh. 

“No. Not really. I’m tired of being alone, Raleigh. I’m tired of fighting. But I wasn’t going to admit it if I was going to get kicked to the curb.”

He paused and sat up straighter, his eyes gleaming with new interest at the turn of events.

“But I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that’s not what you want either, right?”

Raleigh exhaled in relief at the answer Chuck had just given. 

“No. It isn’t. Not the one night nor kicking you to the curb. None of it.”

He admitted, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked at Chuck, who was still looking at him with those piercing green eyes of his as if he was trying to see if there was a trap that he hadn’t caught yet. Raleigh cleared his throat before he continued, knowing full well how much weight his next words would carry. He had to tread carefully. Just because he had gotten an affirmation from Chuck didn’t mean the deal was sealed. Chuck was understandably touchy and jittery after a lifetime of protecting his heart so closely behind carefully constructed walls. 

Raleigh understood. So he played it carefully. 

“I’m not just in it for the sex. As awesome as it is, I want a partner and despite our differences in the past...I think you’re it.”

Chuck’s eyes widened a fraction, but he didn’t look doubtful or skeptical. Only careful.

“What about Mako, though? You’re compatible.”

Raleigh sighed and chewed on his bottom lip before he replied to Chuck’s delicate query. 

He knew why the question was being asked. On paper, he and Mako should have been perfect for each other. They were physically and mentally compatible. But not emotionally. Not on the level that was required to have a romantic relationship with. 

They had tried, he wasn’t going to lie. He still blushed at the memory of that awkwardly sloppy first kiss that they had shared after their first kill. The kiss itself hadn’t been bad, but the aftermath had been painful, since both of them had pulled away from each other and had tried to casually smooth over the fact that nothing had sparked for them. 

Raleigh had wondered if he was broken in some way after that. At least until last night where late night honestly had led to Chuck and him sneaking off to Raleigh’s bunk. The conversation continued and a stolen kiss that had made electricity course through his body and made him realise he wasn’t flawed after all. Despite so much compatibility, Mako hadn’t been it for him and a mulish, belligerent Chuck was. 

Maybe that had been the reason why they had been at loggerheads from the beginning, since he hadn’t ever had such a volatile reaction with any of the other pilots before. Chuck had probably sensed it before him and hadn’t really known how to deal with it other than needling and then punching Raleigh. And as annoyed as Raleigh had been at the past Chuck, after the war and all that had come after, he had enough time to look at the situation from a different perspective and understand. 

Maybe he was wrong, but after last night’s brutally honest conversation, Raleigh was willing to bet that he was probably closer than even Chuck was willing to admit.

“We are, but only in the Drift. We tried. I’m not going to lie. But she’s not it for me. You are. Last night was proof enough.”

It was Chuck’s turn to blush at the allusion. Even Raleigh’s breath caught at the memory of how Chuck’s skin tasted like as they moved against each other, the sheets half off the bed as they had sex in the dim light of the lone camplight in the corner of the room. The sharpness of teeth grazing against soft flesh and the pain of joining and the loss of coming apart again. The security that sleeping beside someone he trusted without thinking about it. All of those feelings came rushing back and one look at Chuck was enough to confirm he wasn’t alone in feeling it. 

The way that his jaw was working and his eyes gone dark was enough to show Raleigh he was right. Chuck shook his head to dispel the memories that fogged his mind, but couldn’t help to blush at the marks that littered his body. He rubbed at bite mark on his shoulder as he mulled over their heated compatibility. 

It was his turn to watch as Chuck’s gaze softened as he gave Raleigh a tentative smile. 

“It was for me also.” He cleared his throat and shifted slightly on the bed. “So what do we do now?”

Raleigh blinked. He honestly hadn’t thought that far ahead. Just like at the end of the war, he hadn’t ever thought past survival. Or those horrible days afterwards, when they had tried to mourn Chuck, only to get their hopes up when they found the escape pod. Then afterward as they waited for him to come back. 

He had no plan. Yet he wasn’t going to let that stop him. Not when he had gotten this far.

“For starters, I’m going to get dressed and you’re going to get cleaned up and do the same. Then, breakfast. After that...I was thinking we’d start by figuring it out together.”

Chuck paused to think about that for a few moments before he gave Raleigh a sharp nod. 

“Works for me.”

Raleigh smiled. 

Chuck shook his head as he pulled on his trousers and walked past Raleigh.Or so Raleigh thought. He wasn’t expecting for Chuck to stop and look at him with his eyes full of tenderness and softness as he pulled Raleigh close and pressed a soft kiss on the corner of his mouth. It was just a faint press of skin, but it made Raleigh’s eyes close and his pulse flutter in his throat all the same.

“I’m glad.” Was all that Raleigh heard before Chuck pulled away to get ready, leaving Raleigh briefly stunned before he went off to do the same.

END.


End file.
